


A Price for a Wish

by Marinette_Dupain_Cheng



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Butterfly Miraculous is not Missing, Chat Blanc wins, Emilie Agreste Lives, Episode: s03 Chat Blanc, F/M, Gabriel Agreste Is Not Hawk Moth, Guardian's Temple is Safe, Peacock Miraculous is not Missing, Unified Tikki and Plagg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 12,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27744877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marinette_Dupain_Cheng/pseuds/Marinette_Dupain_Cheng
Summary: Chat Blanc wins...Bunnyx disappears...an alternate reality is created because of the wish granted from unifying Tikki and Plagg...but was it worth it?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Emilie Agreste/Gabriel Agreste, Master Fu/Marianne Lenoir, Plagg & Tikki (Miraculous Ladybug)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 67





	1. A Glowing Butterfly

Marinette crouched at a corner of the Eiffel Tower, gazing out at a destroyed universe. And it had all been her fault, but she didn’t know how. There was no way to fix this. Bunnyx had disappeared completely. Chat Blanc held the Ladybug earrings in his hands, looking at them in awe, surprised that he had succeeded.

The cat-themed supervillain put them on after that fact had sunk in. Tikki tried to convince him not to do it. He would face consequences. He knew that. She tried and tried to tell him not to, but he had been under too much pressure. Adrien Agreste had gone mad.

“Plagg, Tikki, unify!” he said with an unidentifiable passion for his words. Tikki only let out a disbelieving gasp as he transformed.

Marinette refused to look at her kitty. How could he do this? No. It wasn’t his fault. It had been her’s. He told her that it had been their love that had done this to the world. How? She knew the consequences, yet she still hurt him. What had happened to that version of her?

“I, Adrien Agreste,” he started. Marinette gasped, her eyes widening. So THAT was why he said they were in love. They had known each other's identities. He continued, “wish for life to be the same as before, only this time there should be no one coming between myself and Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” His voice rang out in the air, for only Marinette herself to hear. Everyone else had been destroyed.

“Wait, Adrien—” 

Within seconds, a light consumed the earth and Paris was repaired. Everything had been fixed, and no one knew of what had happened only seconds before. The citizens of Paris were fine. Safe. And Adrien Agreste watched as a beautiful white butterfly flew away from him. Where had it come from? It glowed beautifully in the light.

He stared out into the mesmerizing view of the city, only to be interrupted by someone tapping his shoulder from behind. Was he in danger? He turned around cautiously, and was greeted by a girl who seemed to be asking him to move out of the way as politely as one could do so. He apologized quickly and rose, heading the other way towards the car his bodyguard was driving.

“Wait!” the girl called after him. He turned around once more, and his green eyes met hers. A brilliant shade of blue. He gave her a questioning glance, to which she replied, “I didn’t mean for you to leave. I just wanted to see the view from another perspective...I need inspiration for something. You could stay, if you’d like! Of course, only if you want to, if you were about to leave anyway, it’s fine, you can go, but I just wanted to tell you you’re welcome to stay.” She looked away, embarrassed by her rambling. 

“Oh. I never thought of you as rude or anything… But I’d love to stay!” He beamed and walked over to where he had stood before, only a few steps to the right.

She smiled back, and stared at the gorgeous city. After only a few seconds, her face lit up and she began to scribble something into what seemed to be a pink decorated sketchbook of some sorts. She had found her inspiration. He knew that look. It was the same look his father got when he found a great idea for one of his designs.  
He debated over saying something or staying silent for a few minutes. “What’s your name?” he finally asked her.

“I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng! What about you?” she replied, her face still showing her excitement from the idea she must have received.

“Adrien Agreste! Nice to meet you, Marinette!” he smiled, but he wasn’t sure if it had been a good idea to include his last name. If anyone overheard, he’d be overtaken by a mob of fans, which would not be a good idea.

“Adrien Agreste? You’re THE Adrien Agreste? Wow! Oh, sorry if I made it weird, it’s just, I’m a fan of Gabriel Agreste, and you’re his son, so…Anyway, nice to meet you too!” Marinette replied, trying to calm down.

Adrien laughed. It was clear that she rambled often. But it wasn’t a bad thing. Doing so added multiple conversation topics.

“You’re a fan of my father?”

“Of course! He’s a great inspiration to other aspiring designers, such as myself! I’m not a professional or anything though. Yet.”

“Is that what you need inspiration for? Your designs? You had the same expression my father has when he finds great inspiration...though his facial expressions are rather hard to read. It took me years to figure that one out.”

“Yeah. I needed some ideas. I come here to find inspiration, and it usually takes much longer than this, but did you see the butterfly that was over here? It was so pretty! I couldn’t help being inspired!”

It truly was an amazing butterfly, but he didn’t think he had seen a butterfly like it before.

“Have you seen any other butterflies like it? I don’t remember seeing any around here,” Adrien asked. He was curious. Something about the butterfly just seemed… off.

“No… now that you mention it, I haven’t. Is it just me, or is that butterfly GLOWING?” Marinette could not stress that last word enough. An ordinary butterfly? Glowing as if it was magic? How odd.

Adrien saw it too. It seemed familiar. So familiar that he wondered if maybe, in an alternate universe, he saw such butterflies the time. Perhaps he owned a butterfly garden? Oh well. He would never know.


	2. Chosens in Paris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Master Fu comes to Paris.

“An akuma? In Paris? Nooroo, what do you mean?” a 186-year old man asked a creature.

“Master, I think one of the akumas from the butterfly garden in the Temple escaped and is now roaming Paris. I sensed that there weren’t as many butterflies in the garden, but now it’s very strong. As you know, Master, I can travel incredibly fast because I can move through matter. Because of this, it didn’t take that long for me to search Earth for the lost butterfly. Normally, it wouldn’t be a problem if people saw it. However…” the kwami began.

“However what?” Master Fu needed to know if the miraculous were in danger.

“They were seen by two chosens.”

“Whose chosens? As long as they are not chosens for any miraculous that are relevant to your miraculous box, we should be fine.”

“But Master, the problem is…. They were Tikki and Plagg’s chosens.”

“In Paris? This must be a sign. Something must be wrong with this universe right now. We must figure out what it is. Wayzz, can you inform the other guardians that Nooroo and I will be leaving for Paris immediately? I don’t want them to worry.”

“Of course, Master,” the turtle kwami replied. He zoomed through a wall to find each and every guardian. It wouldn’t take long.

\---

Marinette and Adrien ran into each other often. Too often. So often that it was unusual. Sure, the first few times it could be called a coincidence, but it had been at least 50 times in the past week. At this point, it was normal for them. The two had theories and ideas for how it could have happened… most of them circulating around the unusual butterfly.

Their favorite one was that the butterfly was a symbol of their relationship. As friends, maybe more. It was an interesting concept. But it only seemed to glow to them. They had taken pictures of it, but their friends and family hadn’t thought of it as anything unusual. Gabriel Agreste found a certain fascination with it, but he brushed it off. It did look nice, after all. It was completely normal to think they were interesting. Right?

After all, it wasn’t as if anything bad would happen if he found an interest in butterflies. It wouldn’t hurt anyone. Emilie liked the butterflies too, but she said she felt as if she had never seen it before. Everyone else found them familiar and normal, but still hadn’t seen anything like it. Gabriel and Emilie Agreste were the only ones with unusual reactions to seeing the butterfly picture.

Marinette and Adrien continued to believe the butterfly was a sign, but they weren’t sure whether they should have done something about it.

\---

Master Fu, who was now transformed into a Butterfly Hero with Nooroo, powered up with space powers, flew to Paris. Those who saw him only thought it was a trick of the light, and others believed they were dreaming.

He landed, attempting not to be seen, though he did notice an elderly lady near him. She didn’t seem to be quite as old as he was, but she still seemed to be at least 182. How was she so old? Sure, he was older, but that was because of the magic of the Guardian’s temple. She wasn’t from there. Or he didn’t think she was. He had never seen her. Perhaps she didn’t see him.

“Who are you?” she asked him cautiously.

He knew it would be safer to lie, but something about her just made him think that wouldn’t work, and that she was trustworthy.

“I am Wang Fu. What is your name?” he asked. He wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea to trust her, but he had no other option. Lying to her could mean she would reveal that he had control over magic, and he couldn’t afford to have that happen.

She hesitated for a second, still visibly cautious. He couldn't blame her. After all, he was the one who flew from Tibet in a supersuit.

“Marianne Lenoir.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is quite short, but I DID introduce Master Fu, soo....


	3. The Secret of the Butterfly Kwami

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien meets Alya and Nino, who help him and Marinette attempt to convince Gabriel to allow Adrien to attend school. Master Fu seems to make no progress, while Nooroo discovers something is off about the universe.

By now, Adrien was a close friend of Marinette’s (there was no avoiding it...they met almost every day anyway), and a frequent customer at her parent’s bakery. But he still wasn’t allowed to attend Francois Dupont high school. His mother had tried on various occasions to convince Gabriel to allow his son to attend school, but his father was the most stubborn person he knew. Of course, considering he had been homeschooled all his life and hadn’t talked to many people on the occasions he did leave the house, he didn’t really know that many people in the first place, but still.

Marinette had introduced him to some of her friends. He met a girl named Alya Cesaire and a boy named Nino Lahiffe. She seemed to be closest to these two people, although she did mention more of her friends from school when talking about the place. If Adrien really wanted to attend school before, he desperately wanted to go there now. He would be able to meet so many new people! He couldn’t turn that down.  
So Marinette, Alya, Adrien, and Nino took it upon themselves to convince Gabriel Agreste (along with the help of Emilie and Nathalie Sancoeur, his assistant) to allow Adrien to go to school. It would take a while, considering how stubborn he was, but it wasn’t as if they didn’t know that.

\---

Master Fu had begun his search for the chosens of Tikki and Plagg days ago. He had made no progress. He put himself in danger time and time again, with barely anyone around him bothering to help. The people who did help were not the chosens, but he thanked them anyway.  
Where were the chosen Ladybug and Chat Noir?

It had only been an hour after he had met Marianne when he realized he forgot to bring Tikki and Plagg with him. Or so he thought. Wayzz had thought of that, too. He couldn’t ask for a better kwami. Apparently, Wayzz had made sure to add the Ladybug earrings and the ring of the Black Cat in his suitcase (which took a few tries to include in the transformation).

Tikki and Plagg couldn’t sense their chosens, but once they caught a glimpse of a person, they would know if the latter was a chosen of theirs. Meaning they would have to search all of Paris. 

Master Fu needed a break, desperately. So he headed over to what people called the best bakery in Paris. The Dupain-Cheng Bakery. He was greeted by a kind couple, and he noticed four teenagers sitting in a corner, formulating what seemed to be a plan for one of them to go to school. That boy WANTED to go to school? Huh. Master Fu made a note of it in his mind, and proceeded to purchase some croissants.

\---

Nooroo had only known it was Tikki and Plagg’s chosens that had seen the akuma because he could sense the heroism of the two Parisians. Of course, they hadn’t actually DONE anything to make the kwami feel that way, but something seemed unusual. Not with the chosens, not with the kwamis, not with the Guardian’s temple, but with the universe as a whole. As if someone had changed what was supposed to happen. 

Someone had altered reality. And Nooroo seemed to be the only one who knew it.


	4. The Bakery

“Master, I think my chosen was at the bakery!” Tikki told Master Fu once again.

“I know, you’ve said this already, Tikki. If this is a plot to get more cookies, I might have to separate you and Plagg for a while. He might be a bad influence.”

“HEY! I only create plans to get cheese. I do NOT share my planning skills with anyone else, even Sugarcube. So she’s serious, like always,” Plagg asserted, crossing his arms. 

“Plagg, didn’t you forget to mention something?,” Tikki replied, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Oh. Right. I think I saw my chosen there too. But he better have cheese, or else I’m staying here.”

Master Fu hesitated. Both chosens in the same place. It would be convenient… should he tell them to keep their identities a secret? Should he even give them the miraculous? There wasn’t anything for them to fight directly. He simply noticed something unusual. TOO unusual. It wasn’t as if unusual things didn’t happen (after all, he lived in a temple filled with magical beings that grant powers when absorbed into jewelry), but BOTH Tikki and Plagg’s chosens at the same place, seeing an akuma? It didn’t seem normal to him.

“We’ll head there soon,” Master Fu finally told them. “Nooroo?”

“Yes, Master?”

“Does anything seem odd to you about how two chosens of the arguably most important miraculous saw an akuma at the same place, at the same time?” It was only when he said it out loud did he realize that there was no way everything was fine. Everything was odd about it. His suspicions were confirmed by his own words.

“Er...It could just be a coincidence…” Nooroo mumbled in response. Sure, the kwami knew that there must be something wrong with the universe, and it would have been best to tell Master Fu that, but the man seemed to have enough stress searching all of Paris (now just the customers of the best bakery in the city, which narrowed things down, but not much) for two specific people. Nooroo decided to keep any suspicions secret for now.

\---  
Marinette had come down to the bakery to help her parents when an old man came in asking to buy cookies. When she asked him his name for the order, he answered with, “Master Fu.” It was odd, really. Master? At first, visible confusion appeared on her face, but she quickly hid it. She didn’t want to offend a customer. She shrugged and continued putting the order together.

Little did she know that a customer with such a name wasn’t the weirdest thing that would happen to her today. Hours later, she would find a jewelry box with simple earrings that would change her life.


	5. Alternate Realities

Marinette sat frozen in place, her eyes fixed on the now open box of jewelry apparently called “miraculous.” A creature she could best describe as a bug-mouse (though it called itself a kwami) explained that she could now become Ladybug, a superhero.

But the kwami also explained that there wasn’t exactly anything identifiably bad going on, so she was confused. From customers named Master Fu and theorizing about magical butterflies to having a bug-mouse absorbed into earrings granting her superpowers, her life was no doubt weird. Apparently she would just have to find more things that seemed to be wrong with this reality.

So when Alix asked if Marinette wanted her rollerblades, her most PRIZED possession, the first thing Marinette did was tell Tikki (which was apparently the name of the bug-mouse). Over time, Alix’s personality began to become more and more bland, as if she had disappeared in an alternate universe. It didn’t take long to realize that it wasn’t just Alix, it was EVERYBODY. Excluding (as far as she knew) herself, Adrien, and that customer named Master Fu (who visited the bakery quite often nowadays, and seemed to be obsessed with camembert cheese, as he always had some), everyone’s personality seemed to fade over time. Their interests, their emotions, everything about them slowly disappeared over time. She would need to figure this out. Why couldn’t she have a partner to help with all this?

\---

Master Fu needed a solution, and fast. Each and every person (including the guardians, which frightened the kwamis), was losing what made them who they are, and some had even lost that completely. The people closer to the Eiffel Tower seemed to lose this first, and this “personality loss” was moving from the location like a sphere of destruction. It was as if someone had cataclysmed the city in an alternate universe. 

So either Plagg had gone evil (which was highly unlikely, as the kwami wasn’t evil in any way, just extremely lazy), or the holder of the Black Cat Miraculous had been empowered by an akuma (in which case they were most likely working with the holder of the Butterfly miraculous, and for some unknown reason, they were both trying to destroy the city) and granted stronger powers of destruction, which they had used near the Eiffel tower. 

The idea seemed like a stretch, but the more he thought about it, the likelier it seemed, and he became more reluctant over time to return to the bakery once again and find Plagg’s chosen. What if it was the same chosen from that alternate universe? It could put everyone in even more danger. But there was a reason all of that happened in an alternate universe. Right? All he had to do was prevent the chosen from going evil for reasons he did not know of. How hard could it be? It would be unfair if Tikki’s chosen, a girl named Marinette, had to figure everything out on her own without a Chat Noir to help, and if Plagg didn’t have a chosen but Tikki did.

\---

Adrien Agreste sat on the couch in his room, doing nothing. Well, he was thinking, but that wasn’t what he meant. His father seemed to be warming up to the idea of him going to school, thanks to his friends, his mother, and Nathalie. He was almost going to go to school, like a normal person! He would finally be able to make new friends (aside from Marinette, Alya, and Nino). All of this was expected. After all, everyone had worked really hard to get to this point (convincing Gabriel to allow something was nowhere near an easy task). 

But his case was nowhere near normal.


	6. Celebration and Clues

It had only been a few days after Master Fu began to reconsider giving away the Black Cat miraculous that he had met Adrien Agreste. A boy who Plagg claimed was his chosen. He wasn’t sure whether Plagg was trying to trick him or not (because there was no way Adrien wouldn’t get the kwami all the camembert he wanted), so he decided to test the young man. 

Whenever Adrien was nearby, he threw himself into danger (a test that rarely failed to choose the right holders) and, unsurprisingly, Adrien would save him. Every. Single. Time. Even when he was busy or something, if Master Fu was in danger (it had become quite common), he would come and help. Of course, it would simply be disrespectful to ignore it, but every single time? Even if Plagg WAS trying to trick him, this boy deserved a miraculous.

It had been hard to get around the hundreds (if not thousands) of security features surrounding the Agreste Mansion, but Master Fu finally succeeded in delivering the miraculous.

\---

Adrien Agreste entered his house and started to head upstairs to his room, only to be called downstairs by Nathalie, who informed him that his father wanted to talk to him. His father… THE Gabriel Agreste… who was also the busiest person he knew… wanted to talk to him? It must be important. He rushed downstairs and entered his father’s office, and was greeted with… confetti? And balloons? Was the mansion hosting a kid’s birthday party or something? His father continued to work as if there was nothing odd around him.

“Adrien.”

“Yes, Father? You wanted to see me?”

“I have decided you may attend school. You will be attending the same high school as your friend Chloe Bourgeois, Francois Dupont High School. Nathalie will provide you the other details, like the classes you’ll be taking and your schedule.”

“What? Wait, really?” Ah. So THAT was what the confetti and balloons were for. They were no doubt set up by his mother and Nathalie.

“Of course. Do I seem like one to joke about such things?” To be honest, he didn’t seem like one to joke at all. Adrien didn’t say anything (as it was rare for Gabriel to ever change his mind about something and he was NOT risking that), but he was surprised nonetheless.

“Thank you, father!” Adrien rushed upstairs to text Marinette and her friends the good news.

He sat at the couch in his room and reached for his phone when he noticed a jewelry box in his room. Was it a present from his mother to celebrate getting to attend school? Perhaps. He opened it when a bright light appeared and a creature like the genie in the lamp appeared before him.

“Hi. I’m Plagg. Do you have cheese? I want my cheese. I’m not explaining until I get camembert.”

Adrien blinked. What? Camembert? He’d read stories about genies and magical beings, but as far as he recalled, none of them asked for cheese. Ignoring the odd creature (much to Plagg’s dismay), he looked inside the box and saw a ring. It was a fairly simple ring, but considering there was a magical being inside it, it was likely his mother wasn’t the one who put it there. He could figure out the gift-giver later. For now, he would put on the ring and get the genie named Plagg some cheese.

\---

It had been several days since Marinette had met Tikki, almost a week. She was slowly getting used to the idea of being a superhero, but she didn’t understand how she was supposed to keep her identity a secret with such a tiny mask. Eh. Magic seemed complicated. She wouldn’t bother asking.

She was looking through her camera roll when Tikki stopped her.

“What is that?”

“A… butterfly? Have you not seen one before? I thought you said you’d been here since the creation of the universe.”

“I have. But that’s not an ordinary butterfly. Can’t you tell?”

“Well, it did seem unusual, but I thought that was just me and Adrien.”

“Adrien?”

“Yes. Remember Adrien? You know, the boy I was helping convince his father to go to school? Oh, and by the way, Gabriel Agreste finally agreed! Apparently Adrien’s mom decorated the room with balloons and everything!”

“Marinette. That’s great, but you’re missing the point.”

“Which is…?”

“Adrien could be a big help to Ladybug! He was one of the only people who could tell that the butterfly was magical!”

“Wait. The butterfly was ACTUALLY magical? We were just joking with all our theories!”

“Yes. It’s called an akuma. You have the power to reverse the powers the butterfly and peacock miraculous grant other people, but the peacock miraculous is unrelated. The akuma was seen by both of you (and maybe some others) in Paris, but the butterfly miraculous and the only akumas on the planet were in the Guardian’s Temple.”

Marinette finally understood what the bug-mouse—er, kwami—was saying. This akuma was a sign. A clue. And it may hold the solution to fixing the universe.


	7. Curiosity

“So you’re not a genie?” Adrien asked the creature.

“For the LAST time, kid, I am NOT a genie! I’m a KWAMI. KWA-MI. It’s not that hard to understand.”

“A kwami. Got it. And you’ll give me superpowers, just like genies grant wishes?”

“What is it with you and genies? And YES, I give you the power of destruction, but I better get my cheese for that.”

“Yeah, yeah, you will, don’t worry.” Adrien fiddled with his ring, continuing to be mesmerized by the idea of it making him a superhero. Sure, he had to deal with a kwami who was obsessed with cheese, but that was fine!

Besides, now he would finally have someone (other than Marinette and her friends, because they WERE busy sometimes) to talk to when his father didn’t let him out of the house.

“So what is it I say again? To transform?”

“To transform, you say ‘Claws Out,’ and to detransform, you say ‘Claws In’—”

“Plagg, claws out!”

“Really, kid? Why the pose? AAAAAAAAHHHH Aaaaat leeeeeast waaarn meeeeeee!” Plagg said as he was absorbed into the ring.

Where Adrien Agreste had stood before was a black-cat themed superhero.

\---

Emilie Agreste felt normal. She wasn’t losing her personality like everyone else was, but she was PHYSICALLY fading away. Every day she became more and more transparent, almost like a ghost. As if she wasn’t supposed to be there. As if she wasn’t supposed to be walking around, talking to people like she did. Gabriel was already worried, but the blander his personality became, the more that worry disappeared.

It became harder and harder for people to hear her. And see her. Or even sense her at all. Something was wrong. Was it related to magic? She had never used magic in her life, but what better explanation was there for her fading away?

\---

Marinette had spent all her free time in the last few days learning about butterflies. Yes, butterflies. Not just any butterflies, but specifically glowing white ones (and black and purple ones, but apparently those were not seen by many who remembered it). It had been hard to find anything on magical butterflies, but from what she could tell, the only akuma anyone had seen in the past few years had been the akuma she and Adrien had seen just a little over a week ago.

So much had happened that week. She met someone new (who just happened to be THE Adrien Agreste), and helped him convince his father to allow him to go to school! Not to mention she found out she was now a superhero who had to fix the universe despite not knowing exactly what was wrong with it. But speaking of Adrien… She had to visit him as Ladybug! He could help figure out what exactly was wrong with the universe!

So Marinette headed over to the Agreste Mansion, to find Adrien’s window already open. She knocked on the window, and when he didn’t respond, she quickly glanced inside. He wasn’t there.


	8. Different

Marinette had been worried. She had been distracted when she met Chat Noir, her partner, and she had been troubled for hours until Adrien finally responded to her texts. Chat Noir was a nice person, and she felt bad to have had to meet him on a day where she was so anxious. He deserved better.

She had told Adrien that Ladybug, a superhero who had interviewed her about the butterfly they had seen, had headed over to his house, but he hadn’t been there. This was, in her opinion, a great cover for her, because she HAD seen the akuma, and there was a valid reason for Ladybug to talk to her specifically.

She also noticed that Adrien didn’t seem to be losing his personality like everyone else was. He...seemed normal. She would have to talk to him as Ladybug about that.

\---

Adrien called his superhero persona Chat Noir. Sure, it wasn’t the most creative name, but according to Plagg, something was wrong with the universe (and he had noticed himself that people’s personalities were disappearing), so he would have to work fast. He wouldn’t have TIME to think of a better name.

Besides, there were more important things to think about. Like the fact that he had a partner! A SUPERHERO PARTNER! He had met a girl who called herself Ladybug the day he first transformed into Chat Noir, but she seemed distracted… and kind of worried. But who could blame her? There was something wrong with this reality, and everyone’s fate lied in their hands. He’d be concerned if she WASN’T worried. But she didn’t seem distracted because of the pressure… She seemed worried for someone. She probably wanted to save the people closest to her. After all, everyone’s personalities were fading away, and she probably missed her friends and family.

He had returned home that day and saw his father, who, just like everyone else, was losing what made him… well, HIM. That was normal. He expected to find his mother in the same condition (not that he wanted to), but instead of losing her personality, it turned out she was physically disappearing! The fading was slow, but visible. It worried him. This meant they had less time to fix everything. Would she be alright?

It had occurred to him that day that maybe she was related to whatever was wrong with the universe. He wasn’t saying she caused it, but her case was different. And if the loss of personalities was related to this unusual reality, maybe her condition was too.

“Whatever happens,” he sighed for Plagg to hear, “I hope everyone is alright. Especially my mother. She doesn’t deserve this.”

His father didn’t seem much different over the past few days, though it could be argued that he was quite a bland person in general, but something about his personality loss was odd. As if it was going away faster, but DIFFERENTLY. Different aspects of a person seemed to disappear first, usually whatever they were most passionate about. Marinette’s parents, for example, would have sold the bakery had it not been for Marinette’s convincing. His father, on the other hand, had perfectly fine designs, but his emotions were stronger. The few times they showed, that is.

Adrien knew his father didn’t like to show emotion (though he was usually stuck in his office anyway, so even if he was a very emotional person, it was likely Adrien would never know), but his father changed differently. Gabriel seemed to be going mad inside, but he was suppressing it. The normal Gabriel, the cold and distant one, was keeping the insane Gabriel masked. And he was hiding it well.


	9. Theories and Fading

Nooroo had been caught by surprise when Master Fu had told the kwami that Ladybug and Chat Noir mission this time wasn’t to defeat an evil being or person, but fix the universe as a whole. Master Fu was trusting two teenagers with the fate of this reality? And he KNEW that something was wrong? So much for reducing stress for the man with a white lie. The kwami had just suddenly felt… free when the two of them (and Tikki and Plagg) had come to Paris. Nooroo didn’t have to say anything. Of course, the Butterfly miraculous had never ended up in a villain’s hands so far, so Nooroo had no reason to feel this way, but something about the city bugged the kwami. Nooroo was thankful to be free and not in an evil power’s clutches. Maybe the Butterfly miraculous had been used for evil in that alternate universe. Maybe the villain had won, and combined the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous for the wish. But what was the wish? Nooroo could think about all that later. For now, Master Fu needed as much information as possible. Including any of the kwami’s suspicions.

\---

If Adrien had to say what word he heard most in his life nowadays, he would probably go with ‘cheese.’ He had gotten used to smelling like cheese, yes, but could ANYONE really get used to a cheese loving creature that grants superpowers in their room? Maybe over time, the kwami would calm down. After all, Plagg had told him that he had existed for billions of years. When had been the last time he could just sit and enjoy camembert?

He would start school next week, and he was doing everything he could do to prepare. He asked Marinette hundreds (yes, HUNDREDS) of questions about the teachers, people who were apparently in his classes, and just school in general. He was grateful to even know her… she spent so much time and effort reading each and every one of his questions and providing a detailed answer. But he was so excited! Plagg wasn’t helping… he rambled about cheese while Adrien dreamt of school (so much that at one point, he dreamt of attending a school where the students were different types of cheese).

\---

Emilie Agreste had met Ladybug only a few days ago. Though the public hadn’t heard of the superheroine, and neither had Emilie, as far as she could recall, the name seemed familiar. She had heard it as the name for a superheroine. She hadn’t seen or met the person before. But she had known that the butterflies were called akumas, she had known the names of Ladybug and Chat Noir, despite not being informed in any way about them as far as she remembered, and she remembered someone named Nooroo. She couldn’t tell anyone this, of course, because at this point, her screaming at the top of her lungs sounded like a whisper to everyone around her.

\---

Ladybug had stopped by the Agreste mansion a few days after she realized that unlike everyone else, Adrien still had his personality. She asked him if he did anything unusual prior to or after seeing the butterfly (which she told him was called an “akuma”). He said HE hadn’t done anything unusual… but he did tell her about how his mother was fading away physically and how his father seemed to be changing differently. His tone was as normal as he could keep it, but Marinette was his friend. 

She could tell he was worried. And there was nothing wrong with that. If not for all of Paris, she would have to fix the universe for Adrien’s sake. Gabriel seemed weird, but Emilie was the one who worried them. Why was she fading away? Adrien felt alone, and Marinette couldn’t do anything about it unless she saved the universe. But most of all, Marinette would have to save Emilie. For Adrien’s sake.


	10. Hidden Voices

Marinette had put a lot of thought into Emilie’s predicament and what had happened for her to get there. Everyone was losing their personalities… as if they had been tragically taken from them in hopes of making up for the loss of one human. She explored idea after idea, and this idea seemed to make the most sense.

She knew the idea would never have made sense to her had it not been for her knowing about the miraculous. About Chat Noir and her being Ladybug.

But Emilie, she was physically fading away. Not like the others. As if it had taken a strong energy to have her alive and moving, and that energy was weakening. But what did this mean? She spent days pondering the different situations in an alternate universe that may have led her there.

Until one day it hit her. The idea was so absurd, yet she found herself believing it over and over again. She made herself deny the possibility, but the logical side of her told her it was true. She didn’t WANT to believe it… but if she was planning on getting anywhere with this investigation, she’d have to think logically. 

_After all, a great superhero always listens to her head, not her heart._

The words rang in her head as if she had said them a million times before. But she hadn’t. She knew she hadn’t. Oh, well. She could think about all that later. Right now, she needed to find anything that may make the possibility of her guess being true incorrect and fix her plan accordingly.

She’d never known HOW exactly she was planning on fixing the universe, as she hadn’t known what had caused it to go wrong in the first place, but she’d known one thing for sure. She had been doing this to help people. And when she’d seen the situation in the Agreste mansion, she’d been sure she was doing this to help Adrien. To have Gabriel, Nathalie, and his bodyguard back to normal. But her top priority had been saving Emilie.

Aside from the fact that Emilie’s case was unusual altogether, Marinette wanted to save Emilie for Adrien. She assumed this was because he was a close friend of hers already, and they’d barely known each other for a few weeks. Theirs was a special friendship. Definitely.

_You love him._

The voice rang in her head again. No. The least thing she needed among all her troubles was a crush. It would just make things more complicated.

_It is not just a crush. It’s true love._

No. She refused to believe it.

_You were meant to be. Don’t deny it. It’s crystal clear._

“NO! WE’RE JUST… friends...” She hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but she was getting a headache.

“Marinette?” Her sudden dialogue had awoken Tikki. The kwami sensed that the girl was lost in her own thoughts. Sending a last glance at her holder, Tikki headed back to where she originally slept.

She wasn’t supposed to be focusing on this. Saving Paris was more important.

_Is it? Is it fair that the two of you have to be tragically separated for the sake of a mere city?_

A MERE CITY? Tragically separated? What? There was nothing and no one stopping her but fear. But of course, she didn’t know that. She excused the thoughts from her mind, claiming that they were simply not important.

\---

Adrien had been alone in his room when Ladybug came knocking on his window, as she usually did when she had updates as to how far in the investigation she was. She had told him, as Adrien, all her ideas, her suspicions, and her thoughts about the situation. Of course, she said the same things to Chat Noir, but she usually left messages for Chat just before visiting Adrien.

He rushed to the window to greet her. “Oh, Ladybug! What brings you here?” He knew, of course, but it had been so long since he’d had a normal conversation.

“I have some more ideas! I’ve already messaged them to Chat, so he can give me ideas if he has any… but Adrien… you do know that whatever is wrong with the universe may greatly concern your family, right?” She said this while visibly trying to keep calm.

_Forever for eternity, my heart belongs to you._

__A voice rang in his head. Right now, his focus was Ladybug, and only Ladybug. She needed to fix the universe, and something had told her that Adrien would help her significantly. He was determined to do just that, in whatever way possible._ _

_That something is love! She loves you and you love her, why can’t you see it?_

__“Of course, Ladybug.” He paused. “Why? Is something wrong?”_ _

__“Well… it’s just that out of all my ideas, one seemed the most likely… as much as I hate to accept it…”_ _

__“And… it involves my family?”_ _

__“Um… yeah, sort of. You see, with certain unique situations out of almost all of Paris losing their personalities,” she continued. His mother. She had been the most unusual case in all of Paris, as far as Ladybug had told him._ _

__“I started to believe that maybe all of those personalities were taken away in order to bring someone back.”_ _

__“Back from where?” he prompted, though he already believed he knew the answer. Was his mother… not supposed to be there?_ _

__She turned away at this question, ignoring it and choosing to continue, her voice still quiet. “Someone else wanted to bring her back Adrien, and who would do anything for that?” His father. His father had used the butterfly miraculous. Of course, he couldn’t say that as Adrien… he’d have to bring it up as Chat Noir. But did she really believe that his father would go evil? Considering how distant his father always was, he didn’t rule out the option (though he desperately wanted to, more than ANYTHING). Wait. Wasn’t the butterfly miraculous centered around emotion? And his father was just about the most emotionless person he knew._ _

_Except when it comes to your mother. He’d do anything for her._

__

__

__And the harsh reality of the only reasonable truth crashed down on him like a boulder as the silence. HIS FATHER had been evil. No matter how much Adrien had wanted to save his mother by fixing the universe, he couldn’t do anything. Adrien realized the truth long before his father ever had. His mother was meant to disappear, in one way or another._ _


	11. Realizations

“My father was evil… EVIL! A VILLAIN! How could he—” Adrien sobbed, startling Ladybug.

“Adrien. I need you to understand something,” her voice was soft. “He wasn’t evil.”

“He hurt so many people!”

“Yes. But he wasn’t evil. He did it for someone he loved. It wasn’t right, and there was probably another way to achieve his goal… but he WASN’T evil. And he didn’t hurt anyone in this universe. It’s just a guess among many. It may not even be true.”

“It’s the most believable, Ladybug. Just because it hurts one person doesn’t make it any less possible!” He didn’t want to raise his voice. She didn’t do anything wrong. He just couldn’t take all of this anymore. What had he done to deserve this?

“I suppose. I just need you to know something. He wasn’t evil. And when Chat Noir and I fix everything, we will find a way to convince whoever was against us—which may or may not be your father—that there must be a better way to solve whatever problem caused them to do so.”

The tears on his face were still present. But her words seemed to calm him. Yes. They could do it. They were a team.

_You and me against the world, milady._

Yes. He liked that. It was just the two of them against the world. They could do this. She would always be there for him.

They sat there in a refreshing silence for a while. 

_You love her._

Did he?

\---

Ladybug and Chat Noir had discussed theories over the past few days. Chat had visibly stiffened at the Gabriel Agreste one.

She had thought of him as one to make puns and jokes all the time. Which he had done. But after their discussion about the theories, he had changed. He’d become more serious. Sure, there were the puns once in a while. But not nearly as many as when they’d first met. What had changed?

\---

Marinette found herself spending most of her time piecing together clues and ideas to form theories about the villain in the alternate universe. Even late at night. 

Her strongest lead was the Gabriel Agreste theory, but how would he have destroyed an entire universe? Why did _she_ have to do this? Alya was better with investigations. Or at least she had more experience. But Marinette knew as long as she lost her personality, Alya wouldn’t be much help. Tikki didn’t provide much aid either, to Marinette’s surprise. The kwami was usually very helpful with these kinds of things. Marinette just assumed the kwami was tired. After all, she was, too.

By now her visits as Ladybug to the Agreste mansion were quite common, but what wasn’t common was Chat Noir. 

Visiting her. 

As _Marinette._

She had been startled at first. This didn’t seem odd at all to Chat, though, and before she revealed herself as Ladybug by simply saying his name in surprise, he introduced himself.

He explained the alternate universe being destroyed and how she, Adrien, himself, a man named Master Fu and Ladybug had been the only ones who hadn’t lost their personalities. According to him, if Ladybug was visiting Adrien, it would only be fair if Marinette was visited by Chat. Which made sense, but she _was_ Ladybug. Of course, he didn’t know that, so it was perfectly logical. She went along with it.

They didn’t have much to talk about, since her family wasn’t disappearing in unusual ways like Adrien’s was, so they just looked out into the night sky. It was a full moon. They gazed at the stars together, simply enjoying the other’s company. Their days were lonely, with no one to talk to, and meeting someone new (who wasn’t all that new, but as far as they knew, the other didn’t know that) was a nice change.

The lack of noise was relaxing. Until it became eerie. Both had a sudden urge to glance once again at the moon, and their eyes widened at what they saw. Part of the moon had been destroyed. And something about what happened to it reminded them of the disappearing personalities.

They had known the universe was at stake. They had known the fate of the entire world lay on their shoulders. But it hadn’t been until now that the two teenagers realized just how important their job really was and how fast they needed to get it done.


	12. Invisible

Emilie Agreste felt alone. And she now knew that she would always be alone. Because she wasn’t supposed to be here. Though Adrien and Ladybug didn’t know it, she had listened to their entire conversation. About how Gabriel was a villain who used the Butterfly miraculous so he could bring her back to life (which she thought was sweet, but going a bit too far). About how she was either dead or in an endless sleep.

They would never know that she knew. Why, at this point, no one could sense her at all. It would take days to muster up the energy to pick up something as small as a paperclip. Nowadays, she just walked through objects instead of going around them. What hurt the most though, was how she wouldn’t be able to help Adrien. He felt so alone, and had no one other than Ladybug (who could only visit so often) to comfort him. Emilie wanted to help them fix the universe, but that meant she’d be gone. She wouldn’t be able to be there for Adrien like she used to be. She wasn’t even able to _talk_ to him these days!

When she wasn’t helplessly watching Adrien stare into space with silent tears in his eyes, she was with Gabriel. Her husband who would do anything for her. He was almost going mad! He’d almost lost his personality, but there would be times where he would say some random name (which usually changed, though someone named Mr. Pigeon was the most common and had come up at least 20 times in the past week) and ask for the miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Adrien hadn’t noticed, of course. He’d either been in his room or roaming the rooftops as Chat Noir (she had seen him transform into the superhero times, which only made her feel worse for what he had to go through) for the past 2 or 3 weeks.

She’d noticed a creature (apparently called a kwami) named Plagg who came with the Black Cat miraculous and was always with Adrien. He was… an interesting creature. Were all kwamis obsessed with camembert? Because this one loved it. As in ABSOLUTELY ADORED IT. AS IN SINGING SONGS ABOUT CHEESE. It was truly odd. The kwami could be comforting at times, and reassured Adrien that everything would be fine, but it clearly wasn’t his strong suit (that must have been obsessing over cheese). Plagg always seemed to mutter, “Sugarcube would be better at this.” Who was Sugarcube? Emilie guessed it must have been Ladybug’s kwami.

\---  
Nooroo sensed a problem. Of course, the entire universe’s state was a problem right now, but that wasn’t it. The kwami had known that the universe would be fixed faster if Master Fu knew about everyone’s suspicions about the situation, including his own, but he couldn’t say anything. Not when the problem was the Guardian himself.

Master Fu had walked around Paris quite often, and the woman who saw him detransform, by some odd circumstances, would be there often as well. But it was as if they were invisible to one another after the day they had met. Nooroo would tell his master that the polite thing to do was to greet someone you knew, or at least acknowledge them, but the Guardian would always ask who was there. And Nooroo could tell he was serious when he said this. What had happened? Why couldn’t the Guardian see Marianne Lenoir? And why couldn’t she see him? No. Nooroo couldn’t tell Master Fu. He would have to go to the superheroes themselves.  
\---

Marinette was worried. Extremely worried. Tikki barely spoke nowadays. She wasn’t nearly as motivational as before, and worst of all (and most worrisome), she wouldn’t eat her favorite cookies. And as the truth she had refused to accept before dawned on her, Marinette’s eyes widened. Tikki had also lost her personality. Tikki, the one who knew everything about her and was usually extremely helpful, had lost her personality. The kwami wouldn’t do anything as usual. Marinette couldn’t even remember the last time Tikki had _smiled._

It was frightening. Wasn’t Tikki always with Marinette in that other world? So why was Marinette unchanged but Tikki a bland being? Nothing seemed to change when Marinette transformed. Her suit and everything about it was normal. So after leaving a message explaining the situation to Chat Noir, she went to the first person who came to mind. She did not know how they were related to the miraculous, but she had to do what Tikki would have told her to do. She needed to trust herself.

He wasn’t that hard to find. It had only taken a few minutes as _Marinette._ How he had known she would need to find him, she did not know.

“Hello, Ladybug. How may I be of assistance?”


	13. Clarifications

A confused Marianne Lenoir walked through the streets of Paris, wondering about who was still normal. Something had no doubt changed, and as far as she knew, all but two Parisians had seemed to have lost everything that made them… _them._ And the two Parisians were people (TEENAGERS, she might add) she didn’t know. She felt as if she had met them before, perhaps in another universe, but definitely wasn’t that close with them. The woman barely recognized them. There was no way she would have known them well.

There was an eerie feel to the world at this point, and Marianne didn’t want to be a big part of it. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to help (she really did), but she would rather NOT trust a couple of strangers with her life. Nope. No. She was going to pretend she was like everyone else (because CLEARLY, these strangers were very related to the cause of whatever was wrong with the universe right then) and not act unusual in any way.

She didn’t know why she had been one of the few to keep their personalities, but she knew she didn’t want to be involved. Did she? Every time she left the house to help, what seemed to be a voice in her head would convince her not to.

_Why are you trying to help?_

_You didn’t do anything._

_Enjoy the fact that you still have your personality._

_Why risk it to help others?_

“Because they didn’t do anything either,” she would respond.

_You don’t know that. Maybe they did. If you do something, the same may happen to you._

It wasn’t that she wanted to be selfish. She just didn’t know the context behind this situation, and she wasn’t looking to find out. Marianne knew magic existed (the man named Master Fu having powers being proof of that), and she didn’t want to get on it’s bad side. She saw the creature that had appeared when his powers disappeared around Paris, but for some reason Master Fu hadn’t been there. Now that she thought about it, he was the only person she wasn’t sure was normal or not.

\---

Marinette stiffened as soon as Master Fu referred to her with her hero name. _While referring to HER._ How did he know? More importantly, how had she known to visit him about Tikki’s condition? He was only a customer at the bakery.

“Don’t worry.” His voice came down to a whisper (which she didn’t really know the point of, as everyone had lost their personalities, and there was a high chance they wouldn’t do anything with this knowledge anyway). “I gave you and Chat Noir your miraculouses. I will talk to him about this, too. But I had to come to you first. This may sound odd, but a voice in my head told me to.”

Did EVERYONE have that voice in their head?

“Anyway,” he continued, “I think it was right. What happened?”

“Tikki… she seems to have lost her personality.”

“What? Kwamis are very powerful beings, Marinette... and Tikki, along with Plagg, is the most powerful. Are you sure this is the case?”

“As much as I hate to admit it, yes. But I thought kwamis were always with their holders in case of emergencies. If I’m still normal, why is Tikki… ?”

“True. If anything, Tikki would have had her personality longer than you, but if you were transformed… that’s another case.”

“Why… what would have happened if I was transformed?” As much as Marinette didn’t WANT to know, she NEEDED to. For everyone’s sake.

“She would have had the option to protect you, putting herself at stake. Whatever power was used on Ladybug, she would have taken most of the hit. Depending on how much of her power she used to protect you, you may lose part of your personality as well. But knowing Tikki…”

“She would have risked herself completely,” Marinette finished.

“Right.”

“Thank you, Master Fu. I need to talk to Chat Noir about all this. Maybe the same happened to his kwami, and that makes things more complicated.”

“Maybe.” There was a chance, but he seriously doubted it. Something told him that the Chat Noir of that universe had cataclysmed everyone somehow. If that was the case, Plagg would probably be normal. What Master Fu wanted to know was how the other Chat Noir managed to do so.

\---

Marinette returned to the bakery, finding Tikki staring emotionlessly at the room around her. The girl greeted her kwami, gaining no response (which was nothing new at this point). But what WAS new was some fabric falling off her desk. Neither Marinette nor Tikki had been anywhere near it. Marinette grabbed the jar she had used to capture Tikki the day they met, back when she had thought the kwami was a bug-mouse. Whatever had caused the fabric to move had hidden itself quickly. The girl had a feeling it was some sort of small creature. A creature she did NOT want to deal with right now.

“I know you’re there. I don’t want to deal with you right now, so I would appreciate it if you would LEAVE.” Sure, Marinette wasn’t exactly expecting any response, or for it to understand her at all, but she was not in the mood to deal with more trouble.

“Sorry, I—”

“Wait, WHAT? You can talk? Who are you? WHERE are you?”

Slowly approaching from behind her sewing machine was a small purple creature.

“A… A kwami?”


	14. Surprises and Explanations

“Hello, Tikki’s chosen. My name is Nooroo.” The creature flew up to her in greeting.

“How do you—wait, no, never mind… I just talked to Master Fu, there’s no way he sent you. What are you doing here? Is there a problem? Why didn’t he mention anything?”

“He didn’t mention anything because… I think he was affected by the wish too.”

\---

If you had told Emilie Agreste that she wouldn’t be seen or heard by anyone for the rest of eternity a few weeks ago, she wouldn’t have believed you. Even if she did, she would have expected to be bored out of her mind. But she wasn’t.

The people around her were interesting. Put under a lot of pressure for their age, yes, but interesting. She wanted to help, but she couldn’t. She knew _everything about their investigation, yet she couldn’t do anything._

She saw her son every day, yet she couldn’t talk to him. She couldn’t help _him._

For some reason, though, she felt Gabriel knew she was there. He didn’t say anything, or even acknowledge her presence (she couldn’t blame him—he couldn’t see or hear her, just like everyone else couldn’t), but she just _knew._

\---

“Come on, kid… maybe we can talk to Ladybug about revealing identities! I’m not the best at cheering people up, but she or Sugarcube—er, Tikki—could probably help!”

“Oh! I completely forgot to meet Ladybug! We have a patrol today!”

“Remind me why you have patrols when you’re just trying to fix the universe? I mean, it’s not like you’re dealing with a supervillain in this universe!”

“We need to see if anything else has changed or gotten worse.”

“And you need superpowers for this because…?”

“If any problems come up, it’s best to be prepared. Besides, if magic caused this, magic could probably fix it, too.”

“Eh, okay, sure, yeah.”

“Glad you agree! Okay, Plagg, claws—”

“BUT MY CHEEEEEEEESE!!!!!!”

“Out.”

And with that, Chat Noir leaped out of the window to get some fresh air before meeting Ladybug on the rooftops of Paris.

\---

“WHAT?! But he’s the only one who has information about the miraculous!”

“Wow, thanks.”

“Sorry, Nooroo, but I don’t think you’re allowed to know as much about the miraculous as the guardians… right?”

“Well, yes, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help. Besides, you need me since I doubt Tikki will help at all.”

“You’re right there. But wouldn’t Master Fu worry about you?”

“Hmm… Maybe I can sneak away once in a while. Do you have any preferred times to meet with you and Chat Noir?”

Marinette gasped in realization at her partner’s name.

“We have a patrol today! Yes, Nooroo, just meet us at the patrol times, I have to go! I’m probably going to be late—Tikki, spots on—and… oh wait, I have 2 minutes.”

“How are you going to get there in 2 minutes? And when are the patrol—”

“I’m a superhero! Besides, it wasn’t as if I’ve been punctual every time anyway. Bye!”

“But when are the—”

Nooroo sighed as Ladybug left her room before he finished his question.

\---

Gabriel Agreste knew something bad was going to happen. He told himself not to find out what it was. But that wouldn’t stop him. He would figure it out soon.


	15. Speculations

“Hi LB!” Chat Noir said, waving at his superhero partner. “Er, you have another miraculous?”

“Hey Chat! As far as I know, I don’t. Why?”

“But the kwami…”

“What kwami?” Ladybug turned around immediately and was greeted by… as expected, a kwami. “Nooroo! What? When I said meet us at the patrol times, I didn’t mean today! I still have to explain everything to Chat!”

“Sorry, Tikki’s chosen—”

“You can call me Ladybug…”

“I didn’t know the patrol times, so I just followed you here.”

“As reasonable as that sounds, I don’t think it's safe to have a creature only three people in all of Paris know exists roaming around the city where anyone can see you. Even if everyone is different these days.”

“I suppose you’re right, Tikki’s chosen—er, Ladybug. Can I just meet you here every time? I can try to stay hidden.”

“Thank you. Okay… introductions! Chat Noir… This is Nooroo, the butterfly kwami…”

\---

Emilie Agreste watched two superheroes, her son and his friend, Marinette (not that they seemed to know who was each superhero) talking to a kwami—creatures that apparently gave the superheroes their powers.

What were they doing with another kwami? They already had their own. She stepped closer—not that anyone noticed—and saw it was what seemed to be a butterfly kwami. _Nooroo,_ its name was.

It was only a guess, of course. It wasn’t as if she’d met the kwami before. Right?

She stepped forward once more, enough to hear the conversation clearly.

“And I found Nooroo in my room… actually, I have no idea how he got there without Master Fu noticing… ” Marinette started.

Emilie gasped and stepped back. If she had died, how had she known the kwami’s name? She’d thought the butterfly miraculous had been used to get the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous to bring her back. So, logically, there should be no way she knew the kwami’s name. 

Marinette and Adrien were missing something in this investigation. But she couldn’t help them. They would have to figure it out on their own.

\---

“So what you’re saying is, Nooroo thinks something is wrong with Master Fu. And what did the wish do to him again?”

“It—wait, Nooroo, I don’t think you mentioned that. What _did_ the wish to do Master?”

“It’s as if he doesn’t see this person. They don’t see each other. It’s as if they’re blind when looking in the direction of the other…”

“How does this have anything to do with the wish? And who is this person?” Chat asked.

“I think the wish wasn’t just to bring y— _Adrien’s_ mother back. I think it was just part of it.”

\---

Master Fu couldn’t find Nooroo. The kwami was gone. And the guardian couldn’t find him, because he didn’t know where to look.


	16. Puzzle Pieces

Emilie Agreste was shocked. She had been fine before that revelation. Well, _not really,_ but it hadn’t been anything she couldn’t handle. What made her _NOT fine_ was the idea that the wish wasn’t _just_ to bring her back.

It was understandable, as there was probably no other reasonable explanation as to why Master Fu had been completely blind when it came to one person (and vice versa), but the idea that she had already known the kwami’s name was already enough to think about.

But based on what she knew, it was probably reasonable to assume she had been in some sort of unconscious state when Gabriel became the butterfly holder in that other universe, but had still somehow been able to hear some of the things going on around her, allowing her to learn Nooroo’s name. It was confusing, but made sense. Sort of.

She didn’t know enough, though. Everything around her told her that Gabriel had wanted the miraculous of the ladybug and the black cat to make the wish to bring her back. So why did Nooroo say that wasn’t all there was to the wish? The only other explanation was that someone _else_ took the miraculous and wished for something else. But then why was she brought back? Nothing made sense.

_It’s not like you can help them anyway. They can barely hear or see you._

\---

Adrien paced back and forth in his room. What did Nooroo mean?

_“I think the wish wasn’t just to bring y— _Adrien’s_ mother back. I think it was just part of it.”_

What was that supposed to mean? His father was the one who made the wish, wasn’t he? What _else_ would he wish for?

“Well,” Plagg began, as if reading the boy’s mind, “maybe someone else made the wish? I’m not entirely sure, kid, but maybe one of the akumatized villains got out of control and wished for something else?”

“But based on what Master told us about the butterfly miraculous the other day, the akuma can be taken away from the victim in case the power is used against the original holder! So why wouldn’t Father just take away the akuma before it got to that? None of this makes any sense!”

“Oh… yeah, you’re right, that situation would be unlikely. I should have remembered that.”

_Especially since you’ve existed for millions of years and therefore have an extremely great understanding of the miraculous._

“Well yeah, that too,” Plagg mumbled, responding to the voice in his head for absolutely no reason whatsoever. He then, in a louder voice, said, “You see, kid, this is why I stick to cheese. It makes sense.”

“Plagg. That is not what’s important right now...”

_“EXCUSE ME?! CHEESE IS ALWAYS IMPORTANT!”_

And echoes of the kwami’s rambling about the importance of cheese filled the Agreste mansion, though no one but Adrien Agreste reacted to this. After all, Gabriel Agreste was different now. His obsession with obtaining the miraculous was growing day by day.

\---

Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste (rather, Ladybug and Chat Noir, as they weren’t civilians when discussing the mysteries of the miraculous) had come to an agreement. Nooroo would stay with one of them for three days, then stay with the other for the next three. They had patrols that often anyway, so it was the most convenient.

The girl took the opportunity to ask Nooroo as many questions about the miraculous as possible.

_It’s as if you’re turning into Alya._

The voice in her head made occasional comments bringing her attention to things she hadn’t noticed before. Of course, it wasn’t always being reasonable, bringing up her crush on Chat Noir. Or Adrien. WHICH DID NOT EXIST, BY THE WAY. NOPE. She had more important things to focus on.

_Riiight…_

So she was rightfully confused when she found herself reading and rereading a text from Adrien:

 **Adrien:** How do you stop someone obsessed with cheese from ranting about its importance?

_Just give Plagg his cheese._

Plagg? Wasn’t that Chat Noir’s kwami? Adrien wasn’t Chat Noir! Really, that voice in Marinette’s head was getting crazier by the minute. But it did make sense to give the person cheese. Wait. Was there another person who hadn’t lost their personality?

 **Marinette:** just give them cheese, I guess… and is there another person who hasn’t lost their personality?  
**Marinette:** Most people aren’t passionate about the subjects they used to love anymore. Maybe you could bring it up with Ladybug?

 **Adrien:** Thanks!  
**Adrien:** And it’s less of a person and more of a cat.

 **Marinette:** Since when did you own a cat?  
**Marinette:** And how is it ranting about cheese?

 **Adrien:** It’s not _exactly_ a cat… and are you turning into Alya? That’s a lot of questions.

 **Marinette:** I think I am, with no one to talk to  
**Marinette:** but that’s besides the point  
**Marinette:** How is your cat which isn’t exactly a cat ranting about cheese?  
**Marinette:** DO YOU HAVE A TALKING CAT?

 **Adrien:** Um… sort of?  
**Marinette:** …

 **Adrien:** Wait, no, it’s not really a talking cat, it’s just meowing and pointing to cheese…  
**Adrien:** He’s really hard to understand sometimes…

 **Marinette:** …  
**Marinette:** I’d like to meet him someday!  
**Marinette:** he seems like an… interesting cat

 **Adrien:** Not exactly a cat.

 **Marinette:** yea  
**Marinette:** That.

_YAY! You did it!_

Did what? The voice was practically someone else at this point. She couldn’t even understand what it meant most of the time.

_You talked to Adrien without stammering!_

Why would she stammer? Was it even possible to stammer over text?

_For you, it probably is…_

\---

Adrien sighed. Marinette’s idea about giving Plagg the cheese to stop his ranting about its importance worked, but she was awfully close to guessing Adrien’s identity as Chat Noir. Either that, or she just thought he owned an odd cat.

\---

Something was missing. Marianne Lenoir could tell. She just didn’t know what.

_Or who._


	17. Communication

Marinette rushed through the empty streets of Paris, searching for the guardian of the miraculous. Nooroo had warned her that Master Fu might not be very helpful (and it was dangerous trusting him if whatever happened to him was directly related to the wish), but if he was the only guardian in Paris (and the only one who hadn’t been affected by the personality loss), he was the only one who could help. She had finally found out what had happened.

With Nooroo’s (and the voice in her head, though she did _not_ want to admit it) help, it had been simple. Sort of. Emilie had to be brought back, and the personality loss in everyone else (excluding very few) was because of that. But this brought her to the question of why the personality loss had started at the Eiffel Tower, to which she answered that some powerful energy’s source had been that very place. Exactly _what_ that powerful energy had been was what she did not know.

The details of her explanation occupied her mind as she looked, distracting her so much that she ran into someone. Literally. Who even walked around Paris anymore? People usually just sat in one place all day, only getting up occasionally for food, water, etc.

“Sorry Marinette,” the person said. She still hadn’t looked up. But she knew who it was. Or she thought she did.

“Chat?” she looked up at the person, whose eyes had widened.

“What? Pfft, no…”

“Oh! Sorry, Adrien. I thought you were someone else.”

Adrien let out a sigh in relief (though Marinette didn’t realize, as she was too busy panicking at her error).

“You seem in a hurry,” he commented, offering her a hand.

“Yeah, I’m…”

_Go on. Say it! “I’m Ladybug and I have to go meet the guardian of magical jewels to propose a theory as to why the universe is the way it is.” That would solve so many problems! I mean, it might cause a few as well, but that’s besides the point_

“… er… busy these days?”

“That makes sense, I guess. Yeah, I talked to Chat Noir the other day, and he was asking if you’d seen Ladybug recently. Apparently, he thought it would be smarter to have patrols more often so that they could give each other input on our— _their_ —theories as to what happened.”

Oh! Adrien didn’t know it, but it was the perfect excuse to contact Chat Noir!

“Actually… I saw her on the way here! She said something about how she wanted to contact Chat as soon as possible… because she had an idea! You talk to him often, right? Could you do me— _her_ —a favor and tell Chat Noir to meet her at the Eiffel Tower? She’s apparently looking for someone.”

“Of course, Marinette. Thank you!”

She never found out why he said thank you, for he ran away in a hurry. 

\---

She knew Adrien and Chat Noir were close, but close enough that Chat got to the Eiffel Tower before she did? It was odd. She decided not to dwell too much on it, though. They had more important things to do.

“So, you’re saying there was some powerful energy coming from the Eiffel Tower so strong that it led people to lose their personality? Maybe if someone controlled that energy, we could figure out who used the wish? We know that Gabriel Agreste’s main motivation for going after the miraculous was to bring M—Emilie Agreste back. So it was probably someone else, right?”

“Probably. But we can’t rule it out. We can’t rule anything out. And we don’t know if someone controlled that energy, though that is a good idea. We could work with that! Great job, kitty!”

“It was a team effort, milady.”

“Milady?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Eh.” He shrugged. “Anyway, Marinette said you were looking for someone?”

“You talked to Marinette?”

“NO! Er, Adrien told me?”

“Oh. Okay. I was looking for Master Fu. How does he expect us to find him?”

“Hello, Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

Both superheroes screamed, turning around, ready to attack. 

“Master Fu! You scared us! And how did you get here so fast?”

“Who said I was fast? Anyway, you said you were looking for me?”

\---

Emilie Agreste did not understand why her son and Marinette had to choose the top of the Eiffel Tower for their patrol. Sure, it wasn’t hard for them to get there as superheroes, and it provided a nice view of the city in case something went wrong, but it was annoying. It took forever to climb the stairs (the elevators weren’t working, as everyone had abandoned their jobs, and the world was barely functioning these days), and when she finally got there, she realized how long it would take to get down again.

\---

Nooroo didn’t know how he knew something important would happen by the time Ladybug came back. He just knew. So he prepared to meet Chat Noir. After all, it was his turn to ask questions. If he wanted to. But Nooroo didn’t think he would.


End file.
